Now that Molly’s Canopy is proudly sporting a survivor badge, it’s time to kick back and reflect on my second April 2017 Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

A new game plan

In year two, I had a better idea what to expect — and this time did a Theme Reveal. During the challenge, I worked from an outline and photo list — but did not prepare posts in advance, so the writing was as hectic as ever! Lesson learned: write ahead!

And then there were those pesky adjustments: No linky list of participants, no code to easily identify fellow family history/ genealogy bloggers, no AZChat on Twitter (where I met several bloggers last year), and learning to hyperlink my daily posts for the AZ Blog. Sigh.

This involved: reconnecting with AtoZers I met last year; combing through the A to Z blog daily letter list to find new kindred spirits; visiting genealogy bloggers from last year to see who was in for 2017; regularly sharing posts with my subscribers — and throwing out the welcome mat for any new visitors who showed up.

It was a bit of work building my ownpersonal linky list — but it paid off in blog traffic this year. I spent more time discovering, visiting and commenting on other blogs, and in turn I received more visits and quality feedback on my posts. This made the 2017 A to Z Challenge particularly gratifying and empowering — and also led to new connections and subscribers for the future.

Exploring memoir

Aerial view of Whispering Chimneys (early 1950s). This upstate New York farm was the setting for Whispering Chimneys: My Altamont childhood as I blogged about the start of my genealogy journey. Scan: Molly Charboneau

Another plus for me was exploring memoir as a potential blog subject. I generally write about my ancestral journey in longer posts or series — with links to family history research discoveries.

But last year some A to Z genealogy bloggers pointed out that we owe it to posterity to include ourselves in the mix — to leave behind an online diary in our own voice like the ones we wish our ancestors had left.

This inspired me to go back to my childhood and explore how my interest in family, ancestors and heritage took root. As I rolled out my own story from A to Z this year, I was gratified by the positive feedback — with many readers sharing tales from their own childhoods that paralleled my experiences.

Many thanks to everyone who visited, subscribed, followed and commented on Molly’s Canopy. You made my second A to Z Challenge so rewarding!

Hey, where’s the T-shirt?

That said, here are my thoughts on this year’s A to Z changes.

Quantity vs. quality. Last year, there were more than 1,000 bloggers who completed the challenge, and many more who started out. This year, there seemed to be about 300 or so posting their links on the A to Z blog/Facebook. That’s a significantly lower quantity — yet the quality of comments on my blog was higher and I had more repeat visitors.

Bring back the codes. I think subject codes would still work in this new format — and would be easier to search for on the A to Z blog/Facebook. Not hard to do: make a list (similar to the posting schedule), post it on the blog, and let us use them if we choose. And please add a Family History/Genealogy code.

Hey, where’s the T-shirt? I proudly wore my 2016 A to Z Challenge Survivor T-shirt all year — including to a huge NYC WordCamp packed with bloggers. I was looking forward to buying a new one this year– but it looks like I’ll have to find a way to print my own. For 2018, maybe the A to Z team could arrange print-on-demand T-shirts/gear for those of us who want them.

Would I do it again? You bet!

Was it worth it? Yes! Would I do it again? You bet! Like any marathon, the A to Z Challenge was not easy — it was a long, sustained trek outside the comfort zone. But it was also an instructive, energizing and affirming journey through an enchanted forest of friendly fellow bloggers — and a great way to get a block of writing done.

So I’m already working on my list of 2018 A to Z blog posts — and planning to write some of them ahead of time. Next year, I’ll be ready! Here’s hoping you’ll join me! Until then, stop by any time — Molly’s Canopy will leave the comment box open for you.

One-stop recap of the twenty-six Molly’s Canopy posts in the April 2017 Blogging From A to Z Challenge. Thanks for joining me on the journey and leaving so many supportive comments along the way!

When the April 2017 Blogging From A to Z Challenge ended on April 30, I was happy to be among the survivors who completed the online marathon — for the second year in a row!

After generating twenty-six posts in just one month, I am craving a return to the more leisurely pace of weekly blogging as I continue to explore my ancestors’ lives and the research techniques I used to find them.

Yet I thoroughly enjoyed taking a deep dive into my early childhood this year and writing about my time at Whispering Chimneys — and I may follow up with a sequel about my early suburban life for A to Z 2018!

Still to come is my Reflections post about my second A to Z Challenge experience — but other than that, I am taking a blogging vacation in May!

Whispering Chimneys recap

Aerial view of Whispering Chimneys, the farm where I spent my early childhood (circa 1950s). Click to enlarge the photo, and you will see all the areas I wrote about — from the farmhouse, the barn and the mailbox to the pines, the cabins, my grandmother’s antique shop, our bailed hay ready for sale and the well tended fields of the working farm next door. And of course Route 20 right out front. Scan by Molly Charboneau

While I mentally recharge, here is a summary of the April 2017 posts about Whispering Chimneys: My Altamont childhood…where my genealogy journey began.

Please check out any you may have missed. Comments are still open on the later posts — and I love hearing from readers!

Z is for Zooming off to Endwell. Last of twenty-six posts in the April 2017 Blogging From A to Z Challenge on the theme “Whispering Chimneys: My Altamont childhood” — where my genealogy journey began. With this post I’m also zooming across the finish line! Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Zooming traffic on Route 20 was the soundtrack of my early years at Whispering Chimneys, my family’s Altamont, N.Y., farm.

Sure, there were quiet times on the cross-country interstate. Most nights there were long, silent intervals between the muffled whoosh of lone vehicles passing by.

But the rest of the time there was the steady roar of trucks, cars and farm equipment — and the amber cones of their night-time headlights — as they rushed east and west to their destinations.

Route 20 in New York State (2011). A quiet time on the busy cross-country highway, which was the most tangible border between my childhood life on our family’s farm and the outside world. Photo: Doug Kerr /Flickr

In my early years, Route 20 was the most tangible border between my life on the farm and the outside world.

I could not cross or travel along the interstate without an adult as a passport.

I could wait next to the road for the school bus; yell across the highway to my friend Kathy, who lived on the other side; and even retrieve the mail, which brought me dangerously close to the zooming traffic. But to venture any further, I needed a grownup.

Into the zooming traffic

Fortunately, my parents and grandparents loved being part of the zooming traffic. So I rode in their cars to dance class, to church, to visit relatives, to go shopping — and even once to Boston on vacation.

Best of all were the trips to special local events — the circus, museums, parades and such. They were always a great adventure!

My second childhood home in Endwell, Broome County, N.Y. (circa 1957). Our maroon Dodge is parked in the driveway. That’s my open bedroom window on the second floor. Out back, the Susquehanna River replaced Route 20 as my new natural boundary. Photo: Norman J. Charboneau

Finally, the year I turned seven, we entered the zooming traffic and embarked on the greatest adventure yet.

We were zooming off to Endwell — to our new house along the Susquehanna River west of Binghamton, New York.

And just like that I was transformed from a youngster in a household of mostly adults to the oldest child in a growing family — which now included two younger brothers!

A river replaces the roadway

Our Endwell house was smaller than Whispering Chimneys — a compact little Cape Cod with its attic turned into bedrooms. But its small size was more than made up for by a neighborhood bursting with children — 52 on our block alone at the peak of the Baby Boom!

No more yelling across the highway to my lone rural neighbor! From now on my home life would be punctuated by the raucous pandemonium of scores of children at play.

The roaring traffic on Route 20 was replaced by the ebbs and flood tides of the Susquehanna River — the new natural boundary near my second childhood home, where I lived until I left for college .

Whispering Chimneys: The long goodbye

And Whispering Chimneys? My maternal grandparents continued to live there for another fourteen years — and I’m glad they did.

Because the farm became our family’s destination for long weekends, holidays and summer vacations — a steady reminder of the pleasurable years I spent there as a young child.

Congratulations to my fellow A to Z bloggers, and thanks for joining me on this year’s journey! Watch for a Reflections post on May 8.

And please stop back on May 5 for a one-stop summary of this year’s #AtoZChallenge posts about “Whispering Chimneys: My Altamont childhood.”